Tony Smith (Casey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

All members of the House of Representatives will know how important local school communities are, particularly local primary schools. They very much become the hub of a local community area. The success of these schools depends on not only the great teachers that are there but also the dedication of parents’ groups and the efforts that so many parents put into those schools. Right across the Casey electorate I see that dedication from parents’ groups and that wonderful community contribution that is made at local primary schools to ensure that the students—their sons and daughters—have the very best opportunities available to them. I see that right across the more than 40 schools in the Casey electorate.

One of the schools that has a great history and a wonderful community strength about it is the Wandin North Primary School, which is in the rural part of the Casey electorate in Wandin. It is an old school with a lot of history. It is a small school but it is a school that most people in the Wandin community have a very strong link with. It would be difficult to talk to anyone who lives in the Wandin North area and has done so for a long time who had not been to that school as a student. The history of that school very much replicates the growth and the history of Wandin North generally.

So you can imagine the despair and disappointment when the historic part of the school burned down a few weeks ago. It burned down on the weekend just at the beginning of school holidays. The students were obviously very upset, but the whole Wandin community, for the reasons I have explained, are upset. There were more than 80 years of memories in that school. Thankfully, most of the school classrooms survived, but the historic, original part of the school was lost entirely, as were many of the historic memorabilia in the school.

It is no surprise that, with this setback, the community, as always, has banded together to rebuild under the leadership of the principal, Hetty Thomas, who I want to commend here in this Main Committee for her great dedication—she worked day and night through the school holiday period to ensure first and foremost the school was up and running for when the kids came back—and for her pastoral explanation of this terrible thing to the students themselves. I also want to make mention of the many volunteers from the local community who came on the day after the fire to offer their support and to start planning for the rebuilding in the future.

Obviously I want to see the state government not just replace the buildings but do so in a sensitive way that reflects the history of that area, and I place that on the record. I will be doing all I can to ensure that the state government does do that. From a federal perspective, as well, we will be looking at every avenue we have. I have no doubt that this event, terrible as it is, will act to bind the community together in an even stronger way and that we will see the Wandin North Primary School back up and running in the future.

To the CFA members who fought the fire, a special thank you. It was a difficult time. Many of them were former students of the school. They had grown up and were educated there, but they did a great job of ensuring that the fire was contained and that the whole school was not lost. I also make mention of the Wandin Rotary, who are also heavily involved in the community.